Howdy and welcome back to Mech Overview. This week we are taking a look at an assault mech that wasn’t iconic, always looked deeply weird, awkward, and unpleasant, but was given a massive glow up in MechWarrior Online in the mid-2010s and has become a lot of people’s favorite mech as a result, even if it is a tub with a CT the size of a small planetoid in MWO. The King Crab is a classic weirdo mech from early BattleTech, obscure and rarely featured in stories and games due to its canonical rarity, only really existing in the hands of ComStar. MechWarrior 5 and Harebrained Schemes’s BattleTech have King Crabs as final bosses though, and man, the redesign of this mech sure does look like a final boss in a way the original just never did.

BIG MEATY CLAWS! The modern King Crab is a behemoth of a model, barely fitting into a single hex and frequently crowding out other nearby models. It is short, fat, and proud of that, and I love it. This big bastard alone is probably driving half the sales of the ComStar Command Level II box, with the other half being people who want a Black Knight or Highlander. Big Crabbo is a common sight on tables nowadays, in my experience showing up in pairs or triples more often than any other assault mech.

This is weird, because King Crabs aren’t very good.

Chassis

The King Crab is a 100 ton big boy assault mech. Most King Crabs are slow, mount a big gun in each arm, and have a bit less front aspect armor than other 100 tonners by and large, trading durability for firepower. In theory. In practice, well… Most King Crabs lack battlefield endurance, with limited ammo count, low heat sinks, and agonizingly low speed. In universe it is also a “Hanger Queen”, eating up a lot of repair and maintenance time compared to other assault mechs. I have no great love for the King Crab as a game piece, and I am always thrilled to see one on the other side of a table. If you know what you are doing and have a force with some mobility, you can easily prevent a King Crab from ever getting to do much of anything. 3/5/0 AC/20s are not super threatening if you know how to counter play them. That said, there are some variants with different weapon setups that might be able to get a bit more done than the standard models, so let’s take a look.

Variants

These mechs have all been reviewed based on a standard F through S scale, which you can find described on our landing page here (along with all of our other ‘mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).

000

The 000, or Triple Aught as it is sometimes called, is a remarkably bad assault mech. This is the base model King Crab, and it does not put up a good showing. For 1906 BV, far too much for this, you get a 3/5/0 100 ton slowboy with 2 AC/20s, a large laser, and an LRM-15. Wait, nevermind, you actually just get a large laser and an LRM-15, because the AC/20s only come with a single ton of ammunition each. As I have said a few times in various Mech Overviews, 3/5/0 is way too slow for an AC/20 mech to get any use out of the gun at all, and the 000 sinks a ton of BV into those autocannons. And then doesn’t have the decency to have enough ammo to actually use them. You barely ever get a shot with them, and once you do reach close range, you only get 5 turns of fire before running dry and being outgunned by most Griffins.

I have watched these get 1v1’d by Horned Owls. The King Crab is far less capable than it seems, and far less capable than it costs. At least it has CASE to protect all that ammunition though.

To best play around the King Crab, simply have jump jets or reasonable speed and stay at a distance. Most mechs can get at medium range of the King Crab while forcing it to be at long range or completely out of range with its AC/20s. Literally just don’t approach it, the King Crab can’t do shit to you if you just don’t walk up to it for no reason.

RATING: F; please keep taking these to pick up games it is so easy to counter play them.

000b

This is the SLDF Royal variant, and like most Royal variants, it is significantly better. Still bad, but better. At 2039 BV it is more expensive, but it doubles the ammo, adds Artemis IV to the LRM, and has double heat sinks. Nothing else changes, so the counterplay is exactly the same and the mech is exactly as helpless against any mech that moves faster than it. Genuinely one of the worst Royal upgrades.

RATING: F; not really an improvement in practice because it is so easy to counter by just walking backwards. Or jumping. Or running away at a slight angle. Even standing still if you have some rough ground between you.

0000

The Quadruple Aught King Crab is functionally a 000 without CASE for 100 BV cheaper at 1810. This doesn’t help with anything, the mech is still terrible.

RATING: F; this would have to be 300 BV cheaper to make me want it. You can get a fucking 3S Banshee for less BV than this, my choice for best low-tech assault mech in the game. Fucking travesty of a mech.

001

The double aught one King Crab is the cool ComStar one that they refitted to fight on Tukayyid. It is better: Mediocre instead of bad. For 2221 BV you get 2 gauss rifles with 2 tons of ammo each, a large pulse laser, an LRM-15, and 2 streak SRM-2s. However, it also has an XL engine, and carries 2 tons of SSRM-2 ammo, you know, a full 100 shots so you will never run out of ammo. The XL engine on this mech sucks. Due to the huge model and general reputation the King Crab has from the video games, they tend to draw a lot of fire while not being fast enough to avoid it. The mech isn’t remotely as bad as the other ones, it can reach out and touch people and is competing with the other gauss juggernaut assaults, coming in cheaper but less capable. I still haven’t ever seen one of these getting particularly good value on a table for the price. That XL engine makes this a lot more fragile than you would think and it tends to go boom pretty fast in my experience.

RATING: C-; one of the worse 3050s Gauss Juggernaut assaults.

005

The double aught 5 Biggum Crabbum is a post invasion upgrade of the 000. At 2264 BV you get marginally more front armor, an ER large laser, 2 streak SRM-4s, 2 LBX/20 autocannons, and a C3i if you want. This is a uniquely terrible C3i mech though, not really able to take advantage of it with long ranged weaponry nor able to spot well. There are a wide range of other issues with this mech. It still has horrible damage at long range, but at least the LBX/20s have 4 hexes of short range and 12 overall instead of 3 and 9 like the base model. So, you can’t reach out and touch people, you are still 3/5/0, and most cripplingly of all, there is so much fucking ammo in this mech. No joke, about half of the crits in each side torso are ammo.

It was made in a bomb factory, this is a bomb. The mech does have CASE so you won’t instantly die when you get critted in the ammo, but 2 pilot hits still suck and there is just so, so much ammo in this mech for 2264 BV. Very vulnerable. I have seen several of these kill their pilots from ammo explosions and PSRs, it is far less durable than it seems on the surface. It is also still a short ranged 3/5/0, and that is a horrible thing to be. Piss tier mech, but it is slightly better than the 000.

RATING: D-/borderline F; literally just walk away from it, if you have a basic PPC and 4/6/4 movement you can beat this thing. A fucking basic model Griffin could 1v1 this thing if you played well and had all day to jump away from it.

005r

At 2335 BV this is a refit of the 005. You drop the C3i down to a C3 slave, lose one of the streaks and the laser, and have a touch less armor. This all frees up weight for a single heavy PPC, so in practice you are buying a 3/5/0 heavy PPC that forces all enemies to stay at least 9 hexes away from it. Less bad than the 005 but it is still fucking loaded with ammo and has all of the other problems that the 005 does. Having the capacity to throw a hit bigger than 8 outside of like 8 hexes is really good though, this is a good change.

RATING: C-; probably the best AC/20 King Crabs.

007

James Bond over here is better until you look at the single funniest side torso in the entire game. For 2523 BV you get good armor, 2 RAC/5s, a plasma rifle, 2 light PPCs, and a streak SRM-6. This sounds cool and good, but… I can’t do justice to this with words, let me get a screenshot.

There are 7 explosive crits in this mechs right torso and nothing else. This is the ammo bomb to end all ammo bombs. That is also all the RAC and streak ammo in the mech, so a single crit to the right torso knocks off the torso, an arm, and silences the guns in the CT and opposite arm. This is the second worst side torso in the game. The Marauder 3Rs is the worst simply because it doesn’t have CASE. A TAC to the right torso dunks this mech into the center of the fucking earth. Who did this, who are you, what is your destiny?

RATING: D+; that insane ammo bomb is just a lot.

008

Holy fuck a decent one. At 2369 BV you upgrade to 3/5/3 which fucking rocks, and change the weaponry out for 2 heavy PPCs, 2 LAC/2s, 2 ER medium lasers, an ECM, and a C3i suite. This is not a bad C3i mech in all honesty. One ton of LAC/2 ammo is enough, it has enough heat sinks, and this isn’t too bad of a price to pay for a jumpy pair of heavy PPCs. Another one I see decently often on tables and one of the only King Crabs where it is even slightly annoying to get somewhere it can’t hurt you. Not a bad assault mech but not an all timer or anything.

RATING: B

008B

This version costs exactly 5 more BV than the 008, and the only difference is that it drops the C3i down to a C3 slave and adds another ton of LAC/2 ammo. If you want to use regular C3 instead of C3i, or aren’t using C3 at all, this is the better one. Slightly.

RATING: B, but like marginally more B than the 008.

009

Another significant change up to the formulae, the 009 comes in at 2260 BV and carries 2 plasma rifles, 2 light AC/5s, 2 medium lasers, 2 MML-7s, and an ECM. Once again we have a fuckload of ammo in each side torso of this mech, but it is pretty well padded with other components compared to other King Crabs. The weaponry here is quite good, LAC/5s with precision are great, MMLs are great and flexible, plasma rifles mess with your opponent’s heat math in a big way, lots of good stuff. It is a bit vulnerable to getting out-ranged, only 5 hex short range on the LACs and plasma rifles, but you should be fine. Bit expensive for what it is, but Plasma Rifle assaults are a ton of fun if you have never used one.

RATING: C+

009C

Coming in at 2652 BV, the 009C is a variation on the 009, shocker. For that cost you trade out the MMLs, medium lasers, and LACs for a pair of HAG/20s. Also you get a couple of ER small lasers for some fucking reason. HAGs are fun and they give you more range, but 400 BV is a big increase. Not a bad mech compared to the King Crab standard, but there are better HAG caddies out there.

RATING: C

010

An SLDF variation on the King Crab, the 010 is 2181 BV and is borderline great. Shame about the heat management. You get 2 PPCs, 2 LBX/10s, and 2 SRM/6s. It only has 20 heat sinking capacity from 10 double heat sinks, so you have to pick between the PPCs and the LBX/10s which sucks horribly. Those weapons have the same range brackets and if this mech could shoot all 4 I would be willing to call it a great mech. As is, it is ok. Not fantastic, but ok. Basically a significantly more expensive K2 Catapult. I wish any of these were unironically great so, so much.

RATING: C

011

XXL Engine.

RATING: F

Okay so for 2406 BV you get a 4/6[8]/0, a pretty great speed for a mech this big. It carries 2 LBX/20s, a plasma rifle, and a rocket launcher 15. To free up the weight for the extra speed and the supercharger, the 011 makes use of an XXL engine, the single worst engine in the game. I love building 6 heat at a run and filling nearly the entire inside of my mech with engine crits. A single internal hit anywhere on the torso probably kills this mech from engine hits. XXLs are great ways to completely fuck up a perfectly usable mech, I hate it. 2 AC/20s going this fast is really funny but the Blitzkrieg is about half the price, has a UAC/20 giving it theoretically similar output, and moves 7/11/0. Mech bad.

Conclusion

Most King Crabs are bad and the best ones are ok to fine. The 008 is the only one I particularly like and my usual recommendation to new players and King Crab fans. The AC/20 will sing its siren song, but the King Crab is just too slow to make use of short ranged weapons. All 3/5/0 short range mechs are bad, the King Crab is one of the shortest ranged of all of them, easy to figure out where most of them lie.

Pretty cool in the video games though, because the enemies in those games tend to just mindlessly rush you and get in close. If the AI was better put together and kept you at standoff range, it wouldn’t be good there either.

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